UN/Middle East: UN secretary general Kofi Annan met Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah yesterday and said that he planned to push for the revival of the moribund "road map" peace plan.
Mr Abbas, meanwhile, leaves for Cairo today for talks with Palestinian militant groups, who he expects will agree to a formal truce.
Mr Annan told reporters in Ramallah that the international community was "determined to work with both sides to press for implementation of the road map and work to ensure that the day when a Palestinian state is established side by side with Israel will not be far off".
While the Palestinian leader is pushing for an immediate resumption of the road map negotiations, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has said he might agree to begin implementation of the plan only after a withdrawal from Gaza in the summer.
Mr Annan, who was in Israel to attend the opening of a new Holocaust Museum, was told by Mr Sharon on Sunday that any movement on the road map was contingent on the Palestinians first disarming militant groups.
Mr Abbas has consistently refused to use force against the armed groups, preferring dialogue in the hope of persuading them to cease attacks on Israelis. "We hope the dialogue in Cairo will yield positive results, because the conditions are right among all parties concerned," he said yesterday.
In exchange for agreeing to a truce, the militant groups are demanding that Mr Abbas secures the release of more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They also want him to make progress on the diplomatic front, especially with regard to final status issues such as borders, statehood and refugees.
Militant groups agreed to end attacks on Israel earlier this year, but while the arrangement forged by Mr Abbas has dramatically decreased the level of violence, there have been violations, including a suicide-bombing in Tel Aviv last month which killed five Israelis.
Mr Abbas will be travelling to Cairo armed with a poll released yesterday which shows support for suicide-bombings among Palestinians down from 77 per cent six months ago to 29 per cent. Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, who conducted the survey, said that the results were a message to armed groups that the Palestinians did not support a return to violence.
"This is a major change in attitude," he said. "In the past, the public was not sure the Israelis would reciprocate if attacks ceased."
Israel has agreed to start a long delayed troop withdrawal from the West Bank cities of Jericho and Tulkarm, Army Radio reported last night.
Israel had promised to withdraw troops from five West Bank cities in advance of a February 8th peace summit in Egypt. The step was delayed for weeks over disagreement about the scope of the withdrawal.
Defence minister Shaul Mofaz agreed at a meeting yesterday with Palestinian interior minister Nasser Youssef to pull Israeli troops away from Jericho, at the banks of the Jordan River tomorrow, and Tulkarm early next week, the radio said.